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Barclays Capital this week launched a £137.4m bond, the largest yet to finance a hospital under the revived Private Finance Initiative (PFI). The bond structure builds on earlier hospital transactions, allowing participants to claim that if there is not yet a production line for capital market transactions from the sector, there is at least a viable template. "I do not think I would call it a cookie cutter, but there clearly have been efficiencies in that we apply some lessons across transactions," said Charles Silberstein, a managing director at the London office of FSA, the monoline insurer that gave the transaction a

Recent financial debacles have shown the limitations of traditional VaR models.

n The largest equity offering of the year from corporate Japan was launched by Nomura International on Monday, as roadshows began for fast growing cellular distributor Hikari Tsushin. The offering is scheduled for pricing around August 11. Hikari Tsushin is offering 1.25m primary shares and 1.2m secondary shares in a global sale, with an indicated price range encompassing a 2% to 4% discount.

The $1bn recapitalisation of Hanvit Bank staggered to a close this week after Korea's largest bank was forced to price its equity offering with the largest discount granted by an issuer from the country to date. The issue, led by Lehman Brothers, resurfaced unexpectedly on Monday - having been postponed last Friday - after the government agreed to waive its 10% discount ruling. This allowed the 92.75m unit deal to price with a 21% discount to spot, or a 25% discount to its original pricing date.

A trio of Filipino issuers suffered mixed fortunes this week as increasing volatility progressively undermined fragile market confidence. Although a debut high yield offering by Globe Telecommunications scored a much better than expected success last Friday and a re-financing by the Bangkok Sentral ng Pilipinas scraped home earlier this week, Manila Electric (Meralco) bowed to market reality yesterday (Thursday) with the postponement of its inaugural bond issue.

BRITISH STEEL plans to launch a Eu1.5bn credit within the next 10 days through arrangers ABN Amro, Citibank, Dresdner Kleinwort Benson and HSBC, say bankers. After raising Eu400m via a Eurobond last week through BSKH Finance Plc, the borrower was thought by bankers to have been contemplating a Eu1.825bn loan. However, they say British Steel is considering another bond issue in the near future, therefore reducing its requirements from the loan market.

ERICSSON launched its $1bn facility yesterday (Thursday) via arranger Citibank to a positive reception among potential lenders. Although some banks were keen to see a 364 day tranche, this is a single tranche deal of five years. The deal will not be underwritten and relies on the support of relationship banks. Ericsson has a reputation for managing its relationships carefully and likes to keep tight control over the extent of syndication.